Isabella Jones: The Moment My Perspective on Nursing Shifted
Prior to my senior year of nursing school, I was presented with the opportunity to participate in a yearlong externship through the combined efforts of Lander University and Self Regional Healthcare. Through this externship, I would be able to gain clinical experiences in a preceptor led environment. I would spend 12 weeks at a time on a floor of my choice, self-schedule my clinical days, get paid hourly for my time, and experience what a true 12-hour shift is like in the typical day of a registered nurse.
The only kicker to this externship was that we had to agree to work for 1 year, post RN licensure, at Self Regional Healthcare in Greenwood, SC. This is the part of the externship that turns most people away from the opportunity; however, being someone who isn’t the biggest fan of change, I knew that it would be hard for me to learn how to be a nurse and how to navigate a new environment at the same time after graduation. Through this externship, not only would I get to know the environment I would be working in, but I would also be able to gain confidence in my nursing skills. Knowing the many benefits this opportunity would present me with, I decided to take a leap of faith and say yes!
When I started this externship, I spent my first 12 weeks in the Progressive Care Unit. This was the first time I was able to care for patients outside of a medical surgical unit, so to say I was excited was an understatement. These patients were much more critical, and their care was far more complex. Being the fresh, young nursing student that I was, I had the mindset that almost every nursing student has when they are in clinicals: what cool thing am I going to learn and/or see today?
For the first couple of weeks, I saw something new nearly every shift I worked whether it was how to titrate a Heparin drip, how to take care of a patient after receiving a cardiac catheterization procedure, what to do when a patient experiences supraventricular tachycardia, how to care for a patient post myocardial infarction, etc. Every day was something new, and I was always looking forward to the next new thing I would learn.
About 2 months into my externship, I started working night shifts on the weekends to accommodate my school and extracurricular responsibilities. Once I switched off day shift, I really saw a change in momentum. The shifts weren’t as busy, the interventions weren’t as common, and honestly, I didn’t get to do as much as I once was able to on day shift. Being a nursing student who was constantly waiting for something new to learn and see, I left many shifts quite disappointed. That was until one night shift when my perspective changed.
During this shift, my preceptor and I hit a slow point around two in the morning. To give me something to do, another nurse asked me to go help her patient take a shower. I was honestly surprised that she had asked me to perform this task at such a time. I did not want to wake the patient, but I quickly said yes. I proceeded to gather the needed supplies and found the patient’s room. I prepared myself to get scolded by a sleeping patient for waking them; however, that is not what happened.
Upon entering the room, I found the patient sitting on the couch with her continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) face mask sitting next to her. She was awake but had a saddened expression on her face. I introduced myself to her and explained that I was there to help give her a shower if she’d like. She thanked me and said she had been waiting all night to take one. I assisted her to the restroom and began to help her get undressed, as she could not do it independently.
When I was helping remove her socks, she broke into tears. She felt weak, discouraged, and disappointed in herself and her current health condition – a common feeling most patients experience.
I gave her a tissue and asked if she would like to talk about what was bothering her. She explained her life story to me. She had her daughter at a young age and got a divorce when her child was just a toddler. Her ex-husband wasn’t in the picture after that, so ever since, she devoted her life to supporting her family. She went without just so they could have. As a result, her health steadily declined over the years. She was admitted to the hospital this visit for respiratory depression, but she had other health concerns on top of that, such as diabetic neuropathy, limited mobility, as well as anxiety and depression. She so deeply wanted to take better care of herself.
As I sat there and listened, my mind began to weigh heavy with all the things she had just shared. Nursing school teaches you how to help patients, but for the first time in my experience, I didn’t exactly know how to do that. There wasn’t any kind of medicine, medical intervention, or procedure that could heal this patient, so I just sat there and listened and comforted her the best that I knew how.
Once she collected herself, I asked if anyone had helped wash her hair since being in the hospital. I knew that washing my hair always makes me feel 10x better. She replied no, so I offered to do it for her. Her eyes lit up, and she immediately said yes. I helped her get into the shower, and while she washed, I grabbed a basin to rinse her hair. Once she was back in bed, I offered to braid her hair so that it wouldn’t get in the way of her CPAP mask.
Before I left the room, the patient expressed to me that no one had taken the time to listen and care for her in the way that I had done that night since she had been in the hospital. She just kept thanking me and telling me how wonderful of a nurse I was going to be one day.
For the remainder of the shift, I couldn’t help but think back to this patient and what she had told me: that I was going to be a wonderful nurse. I hadn’t given her medications, I hadn’t performed any lifesaving intervention, and in all honesty, I hadn’t done anything that typically comes to mind when you think of nursing. I simply took the time to wash and braid her hair, yet that meant more to her than any other nursing skill that had been performed during her stay.
Not only did this simple interaction mean the world to her, but it meant the world to me. I realized that even though night shift isn’t typically as busy, there are still ample opportunities to make a difference in your patients’ lives. I also realized that the impact you leave on patients is what nursing is all about. Sure, cool, new interventions can save a patient’s life, but taking the time to listen, comfort, and care for them in an empathetic manner can do far more.
Since that moment, my perspective on nursing has truly shifted. Nursing isn’t about all the cool new things you’re going to learn and see; it’s about the patients’ whose life you’re going to make a difference in. It’s about taking the time to wash and braid your patient’s hair to make them feel better, it’s about giving your patients options when they feel like they have little say about what they can and cannot do, it’s about finding out your patient’s favorite TV channel from a loved one and turning it on for them.
Through this experience during my externship, I was able to learn that so much of nursing is about the little things, and that is something I will carry forward with me throughout the rest of my nursing career.
Isabella Jones is a senior nursing major from Lancaster, SC. She completed a nurse extern program through Self Regional Healthcare for her breakaway. She will graduate in December and will work in Self Regional Healthcare’s Cardiac ICU after graduation.